JWU, Lasell, Albertus, Emmanuel Advance to GNAC Men's Basketball Semifinals on Thursday
No. 1 JWU will host No.5 Emmanuel and No. 2 Lasell will host No. 3 Albertus Magnus Thursday in the GNAC Semifinal following their quarterfinal victories on Tuesday.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
The top three seeds took care of business on Tuesday night in the 2016 Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) Men's Basketball Tournament Quarterfinals, while fifth-seeded Emmanuel College took down fourth-seeded Anna Maria College, 91-89, on the road to advance to Thursday's semifinals.
Emmanuel will travel to top-seeded Johnson & Wales University on Thursday at 7:30 PM, as the No. 14 nationally-ranked Wilcats handled eighth-seeded Saint Joseph's College of Maine, 73-36, on Tuesday.
Second-seeded Lasell College defeated seventh-seeded Suffolk University, 78-64, on Tuesday and will now welcome third-seeded Albertus Magnus College on Thursday in the semifinals at 7:00 PM after Albertus scored a season-high in points in taking down sixth-seeded Mount Ida College, 109-87, on Tuesday.
Be sure to watch all of Thursday's GNAC Semifinals action at thegnac.tv.
#1 JWU 73, #8 SAINT JOSEPH'S 36
PROVIDENCE, R.I. – The 14th-ranked Johnson & Wales men's basketball team limited Saint Joseph's College of Maine to a season-low in points as JWU rolled to a 73-36 victory over the Monks.
Records:
St. Joseph's: 8-17
Johnson & Wales: 24-2
JWU Statistical Leaders:
Quarry Greenaway: 18 points, 11 rebounds
Tom Garrick: 20 points, 10 rebounds
Robert Lewis: 15 Points
The Lead:
The Wildcats played stingy defense from the start as they limited the visitors to just 16 points in the first half. It's the second time in the last three games that JWU has held a team to 16 points or fewer in the first half. Johnson & Wales held the Monks to 29.4 percent shooting (15-of-51) from the field.
Of Note:
With the victory, Johnson & Wales set the school record for most victories in a season. The 24 triumphs break the tie with the 2013-14 team that went 23-7 on its way to the ECAC New England Tournament title.
While JWU didn't' have its best offensive night of the season, it did play great defense. St. Joseph's 36 points are the fewest scored by a Wildcat opponent since it held Emmanuel to 36 on January 7, 2014. Johnson & Wales' 73 points are tied for its second-lowed offensive output of the year.
Outscoring the Monks and accounting for nearly 50 percent of the Wildcats' scoring was the senior tandem of Tom Garrick (Seekonk, Mass.) and Quarry Greenaway (Westchester, NY). Garrick tallied a game-high 20 points and Greenaway added 18. Greenaway led the way with 11 rebounds while Garrick hauled in 10. It's the third time this season both players have posted a double-double in the same game.
Johnson & Wales turned a one-point contest, 6-5, into a double-digit lead as it went on a 13-2 run that was capped by a Greenaway jumper. The Monks got within five, 21-16, at the 5:06 mark of the first half, but JWU closed the opening stanza on a 12-1 run to take a 33-16 lead to the locker room.
Two other players got into double figures for the Wildcats. Senior Robert Lewis (Providence, RI) was nearly perfect off the bench as he shot 6-of-7 to score 15 points. He's reached double figures in three of the last four games. Junior guardAnthony Jernigan (East Hartford, Conn.) was next with 12 points to go along with five rebounds, three assists and three steals.
Quinn Richardson-Newton led the Monks with nine points and just missed a double-double with nine rebounds. Ian Mileikis and Craig Luschenat followed with eight points each.
Coachspeak:
"We didn't shoot the ball well, but our guys were so locked in on defense. St. Joe's runs a Princeton-style type of offense and that takes a lot of discipline to play against. Our guys were extremely disciplined on defense in both halves."
-JWU Head Coach Jamie Benton
Up Next:
Johnson & Wales moves onto the GNAC Tournament semifinals on Thursday. The Wildcats will play host to Emmanuel at 7:30 p.m. JWU beat the Saints earlier in the season by 82-54 and 116-74 margins.
Courtesy of JWU Athletics Communications.
#2 LASELL 78, SUFFOLK 64
NEWTON, Mass. — The #2 seeded Lasers improved to 18-8 on the year, while the Rams dropped to 8-18 overall.
Adam Chick finished with a team-high 23 points for the visitors, while adding 13 rebounds in the contest. Seven Diprozo and Jake Meister each netted 11 points for the Rams, and Meister added eight rebounds and five assists in the loss.
The opening half was a closely contested affair featuring 13 lead changes with Lasell holding the largest lead through the first 20 minutes at 5 points, and the hosts took a four point lead into intermission on an Omanovich trifecta with four seconds remaining in the half.
A layup and three pointer from Suffolk's Chick to open the second half gave the visitors a 36-35 lead just over a minute into the second stanza. Lasell's O'Brien ignited a 16-5 run with a three pointer of his own, giving the Lasers a 52-41 lead with 12:40 remaining. Suffolk was unable to get closer than 8 the rest of the way as Lasell claimed the 78-64 victory.
Courtesy of Lasell Athletics Communications.
#3 ALBERTUS MAGNUS 109, #6 MOUNT IDA 87
NEW HAVEN, Conn. — Junior guard Grant Ellis (Newark, N.J.) scored a game-high 25 points to lead the Albertus Magnus College men's basketball team past visiting Mount Ida, 109-87, on Tuesday evening in the Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) Tournament Quarterfinals at The Nest inside the Cosgrove Marcus Messer Athletic Center.
With their fifth straight victory, the third-seeded Falcons improve to 19-5 on the year, while the sixth-seeded Mustangs see their season come to an end with an 11-15 mark. The triumph was the third of the season for AMC against Mount Ida, as the Falcons have won 16 of the last 18 meetings betweek the two teams.
In his best game as a Falcon, Ellis shot 5-of-10 from beyond the arc to go along with five boards, one assist and one block. Albertus Magnus senior wing Marc Wilson (Jersey City, N.J.) added 19 points and nine boards in the win for the hosts. Freshman guard Dennis Ross (Portland, Maine) paced the Mustang attack with 15 points off the bench on 6-of-9 shooting.
Albertus Magnus opened the game on a 12-6 run capped by a layup from sophomore forwardJaqhawn Walters (Hartford, Conn.) over the first three and a half minutes of action. Mount Ida would answer with a 5-0 spurt to pull within one at 12-11 after a layup from Jacob Sartain.
Later in the first half, the Falcons used a 16-3 run capped by a pair of free throws from freshman Med Fofana(Bronx, N.Y.) to stretch their lead to 17 at 37-20 with 5:36 left in the stanza. The teams would trade buckets over the remainder of the opening 20 minutes and a trey from Mustang sophomore guard John Oliver closed out the scoring to give the hosts a 49-31 advantage at the break.
AMC pulled away in the second half, scoring 60 points and shooting 58 percent from three-point range. Over the final 20 minutes, the home team connected on 7-of-12 from deep, highlighted by Ellis hitting four. The Falcons stretched their lead to as many 34 midway through the second stanza following a layup in the post from freshman forward Shontaey Lovell (Brooklyn, N.Y.). The Albertus reserves maintained the edge down the stretch and freshman Matt Hamilton (Hamden, Conn.) put the exclamation point on the win with a dunk off a lob pass from classmate Ryan Pittman (Stratford, Conn.).
Walters was the third Falcon in double figures with 16 points to go along with eight rebounds and two blocks, while Lovell and Pittman each added nine. Pittman filled out the stat sheet, dishing out eight assists and pullind down six boards.
Three other Mustangs scored in double figures besides Ross, led by sophomore guard Joey DeFillippi (Bristol, Conn.) with 13 points. Sophomore Brendan Cunningham (Quincy, Mass.) added 12 points off the bench, whil Sartain netted 10.
Courtesy of Albertus Magnus Athletics Communications.
#5 EMMANUEL 91, #4 ANNA MARIA 89
PAXTON, Mass. — Senior Kyle Davis (pictured, Groveland, Mass.) hit a floating layup off an inbounds play with 1.3 seconds remaining to push Emmanuel College to a 91-89 win over the AMCATS on Tuesday evening. Emmanuel improves to 10-16 win the win, while Anna Maria falls to 14-12.
AMCAT LEADERS
Anna Maria saw a game-high 23 points from senior Patrick Bradanese (Billerica, Mass.). Bradanese also finished with eight rebounds and seven assists. Classmates Tyler Delorey (Worcester, Mass.) and Kyle McKissick (Charlton, Mass.) also scored in double-figures, checking in with 18 and 15 points, respectively.
Freshman Manny Payton (Fitchburg, Mass.) rounded out the AMCAT top scorers with 12 points off the bench.
EMMANUEL LEADERS
All five of the Saints starters scored in double-figures, led by Davis with 18 points. Colin Cordero (Bolton, Conn.) scored 16 points, followed by Kyle Smith (Los Angeles, Calif.) with 13. John Clay (Westport, Mass.) and Matt Raine (Miami, Fla.) finished with 11 and 10 points, respectively.
Davis recorded a double-double in the victory, as he paired his 18 points with a game-high 11 rebounds.
HOW IT HAPPENED
The AMCATS led for the entire first half and for the first 10 minutes of the second half. They used the opening minute-and-a-half of the second frame to build their largest lead of the day at 13 points. The Saints went to work from there, holding the AMCATS scoreless for a stretch of 2:40 following Bradanese's layup at the 18:01 mark.
During the scoreless stretch, the Saints scored nine points of their own, quickly turning a double-digit lead for Anna Maria into a four-point lead at the 16:23 mark.
The AMCATS snapped the drought with a three-pointer by Delorey at 15:40, but the Saints scored on their next two possessions to cut the lead to three points, 60-57, at 15:06.
Anna Maria built up another seven-point lead and maintained the margin for a bit until a string of scoreless possessions allowed the Saints within one, 69-68, following a made three-pointer by Will Jessop (Westwood, Mass.). A costly turnover on Anna Maria's next possession put the ball back in the Saint's hands, and following a foul, Rashad Dixon (Brockton, Mass.) hit the first of two free-throws to tie the score for the first time.
Bradanese drained a three-pointer on the AMCATS' next trip, but Davis hit back-to-back layups to give the Saints their first lead of the day at 73-72 with 8:52 still to play.
The two team would exchange five more lead changes and would tie the score and additional five times over the remaining time.
With 2:48 on the clock Emmanuel took their largest lead of the game, a four-point advantage at 86-82. Anna Maria would fight back to tie the score for the fifth time at 87-87 with 1:28 on the clock.
A pair of free-throws by Cordero at the 1:22 mark put the Saints up again, 89-87, until Bradanese tied it again on a jumper 21 seconds later.
Following a missed three-pointer by the Saints, the AMCATS had control with an eight-second differential on the game-clock and the shot-clock. Anna Maria called timeout to draft a play and managed to run some time down, but a costly AMCAT turnover with nine seconds left gave the Saints one last chance.
Diggs took an off-target layup with three seconds left but the ball bounced off an AMCAT defender. The Saints ran a textbook inbounds play with 1.3 seconds on the clock, feeding the 6-foot 6-inch Davis high above his head. Davis jumped, caught the ball, and laid it in for the game-winning basket with .4 seconds left on the clock.
Anna Maria tried to run a full-court heave but was unsuccessful.
FINAL COMPARISONS
The AMCATS hit an impressive 20 field goals in the first half, shooting 54.1 percent from the floor (20-37). The second half was a different story, as they shot 12-26 (46.2 percent). Overall, the AMCATS shot at 50.8 percent (32-63), shooting above .500 for the first time in 12 games.
The Saints compiled a 47.9 percent shooting effort (35-73) on the day. They bested the AMCATS at the free-throw line—both teams had 25 attempts, but the Saints converted on 18 to Anna Maria's 15.
Emmanuel held a 52-43 advantage in points in the paint, a 23-7 lead in points off turnovers, and a 26-10 edge in second-chance points. The AMCATS led on the fast break, 17-4.
SERIES HISTORY
This marks the second-straight season that the Saints have upset the AMCATS in the GNAC quarterfinal. Last season, Emmanuel took a 76-73 win in the No. 3/No. 6 matchup. Emmanuel has now won three out of the last four games against Anna Maria. The AMCATS still lead the series, 8-4.
Courtesy of Anna Maria Athletics Communications.
Quarterfinals - Tuesday, February 23
Game 1: #1 Johnson & Wales 73, #8 Saint Joseph's Maine 36 | BOX
Game 2: #5 Emmanuel 91, #4 Anna Maria 89 | BOX
Game 3: #3 Albertus Magnus 109, #6 Mount Ida 87 | BOX
Game 4: #2 Lasell 78, #7 Suffolk 64 | BOX
Semifinals - Thursday, February 25
Game 5: #5 Emmanuel at #1 Johnson & Wales - 7:30 PM
Game 6: #3 Albertus Magnus at #2 Lasell - 7:00 PM
Championship - Saturday, February 27
Game 7: Game 5 winner vs. Game 6 winner
– #TheGNAC –